European Portuguese Pronunciation – Main Features

4. Spelling-pronunciation patterns

There is much to be said when it comes to Portuguese spelling-pronunciation patterns and, again, I will be using the IPA-symbols as we go through it (refer to the consonant table above for IPA-symbol–sound clarification).

Hard vs. soft vowels

In Portuguese, a, o, and u are “hard” vowels, whereas e and i are “soft”. This distinction is pertinent because some consonants will produce different sounds depending on if they are followed by soft or hard vowels. Let’s take a look at a few cases.

Letter C – /k/ vs. /s/

If the letter c is followed by a hard vowel – a, o, or u – it will produce the /k/-sound, as in copo (glass). If instead it is followed by a soft vowel – e or i – it will render the /s/-sound, as in cinto (belt).

Letter G – /g/ vs. /ʒ/

If g is followed by a hard vowel – a, o or u – it will produce the /g/-sound, as in gato (cat). If instead it is followed by a soft vowel – e or i – it will render the /ʒ/-sound, as in gelado (ice-cream).

Letters QU – /ku/ vs. /k/

If the letters qu are followed by a hard vowel – a or o – they will produce a /ku/-sound, as in quatro (four). If instead they are followed by a soft vowel – e or i – they will render the /k/-sound, as in querido (dear).

There are a few exceptions though. For instance, in the words tranquilo (tranquil) and cinquenta (fifty), that u is pronounced.

Letters GU – /gu/ vs. /g/

If the letters gu are followed by a hard vowel – a or o – they will produce a /gu/-sound, as in água (water). If instead they are followed by a soft vowel – e or i – they will only stand for a /g/-sound, as in guerra (war).

Again, there are a few exceptions. For example, in the word aguentar (endure), the u is not mute.

Digraphs

Digraphs are consonant pairs which stand for a specific sound. There are five of them in Portuguese.

SS

The double-s always appears stuck in between vowels and produces the same voiceless /s/-sound, as in pássaro (bird).

SS vs. S
If instead, it is a single-s that is stuck in between vowels, it will render a voiced /z/-sound, as in casa (house). Notice, however, that a single-s placed right at the beginning of a word always produces the voiceless /s/-sound, as in sapo (frog).

RR

The double-r always pops up stuck in between vowels and the sound it stands for is produced in the back of the throat, thus resulting in a guttural, rhotic sound – the /R/-sound – as in carro (car).

RR vs. R
The same /R/-sound is produced when a single-r initiates a word, as in rico (rich). A single-r stuck between vowels, on the other hand, produces the alveolar tap /ɾ/-sound, as in caro (expensive).

CH

The digraph ch always produces the same hushing /ʃ/-sound, as in chuveiro (shower). It is a common sound in English and in many other languages.

NH

The digraph nh always produces the nasal /ɲ/-sound, as in ninho (nest). This sound is not found in English.

LH

The digraph lh always produces the palatal /ʎ/-sound, as in velho (old). Oftentimes, students struggle with this sound. Maybe the following video will help:

QU/GU

Qu and gu are only considered digraphs when preceding a soft vowel, namely e or i.

In that case, the letter u in both qu and gu is soundless, meaning that qu and gu will then produce the /k/- and /g/-sound respectively, as in the words quente (hot) or guia (guide).

The omnipresent hushing /ʃ/-sound

As mentioned above, the hushing /ʃ/-sound is a hallmark of the Portuguese language. Here’s an account of the different spelling patterns that render this sound.

S-plural

Any word ending with the letter s produces the /ʃ/-sound. This will be the case for most plural nouns (e.g., casas), pronouns (e.g., elas), articles (e.g., umas), adjectives (e.g., verdes) and verb forms (e.g., somos).

S before a consonant

The /ʃ/-sound is produced every time the letter s comes right in front of a voiceless consonant, as in the words estou and espera.

CH and X

As we’ve seen above, the digraph ch always translates into a /ʃ/-sound. Also, the letter x predominately stands for this sound (more on x below).

Z at the end

Finally, any word ending with z, as in capaz, will produce the /ʃ/-sound on that same last syllable.

Letter X

The letter “X” stands for 4 different sounds and learners tend to complain about it, as they’ll often guess it wrong. There are a few patterns that can make your life easier in that regard. Let’s take a look at them.

Most commonly, the letter x produces the hushing /ʃ/-sound. As a matter of fact, all words starting with x render that sound, as in xadrez.

Also, whenever the x is right in front of another consonant, as in texto, the sound produced will be the same, that is, the /ʃ/-sound.

Things get a little more complicated when the letter x is stuck in between vowels. In that case, there are 3 possibilities and no definitive rules. Still, in most cases, it will render the above-mentioned /ʃ/-sound, as in Bruxa.

In other cases though, it produces a /ks/-sound. Most of the time, these words will have English cognates that are also pronounced with the same /ks/-sound. Take for instance the words tóxico (toxic) or fluxo (flux).

The letter x can also stand for the /z/-sound. Typically, these words also have English cognates*, but they render the /gs/-sound instead. Some examples are exótico (exotic) and executar (execute).

Finally, the letter x can stand for the /s/-sound. This, however, is rare and you should look at it more as an exception. The words próximo and máximo are two examples.

*Speaking of cognates, you may know more Portuguese words than you think you do. Here’s a read to make you realize just that: English-Portuguese Cognates – The Words You Already Know (Without Knowing It).